2006-03-21

Jeanne Cavelos on Gender in "Star Wars"

SF writer and astrophysicist Jeanne Cavelos writes:

"Against a background of stars and X-wing fighters, Luke holds hislightsaber aloft while Leia crouches below him, brandishing a gun: twotough heroes ready to fight the evil Empire. In my love of Star Wars, Ispent endless hours longing for 'a galaxy far, far away,' replaying themovie in my head, studying every detail of the poster on my wall. It seemedto embody the excitement of the movie and its strong heroes, Luke and Leia.But as the Star Wars saga unfolded, I became troubled. While George Lucasbrilliantly combined diverse ideas and influences to create somethingstartling and inspiring, one aspect of the movies didn't live up to therest. I began to notice something new about the poster on my wall. Lukeabove, superior; Leia below, inferior. It seemed to reflect the treatmentof the characters in the movies. The problem is not that the women aresupporting characters, though they are. Even a supporting character can bestriking and compelling. Han Solo is such a powerful, heroic figure, henearly eclipses Luke. But the women in Star Wars are not the memorablefigures they could be. Compared to their male counterparts, they areinconsistent and underdeveloped. There is a clear lack of focus on thesecharacters on the part of George Lucas and the other writers, a tendency tosacrifice the female characters to make the males look better, and a decidedinclination to reduce initially powerful women to inaction and irrelevance.Leia and Amidala, as the two most prominent female figures in the films,exemplify these weaknesses."

- "Stop Her, She's Got a Gun! How the Rebel Princess and the Virgin QueenBecame Marginalized and Powerless in George Lucas' Fairy Tale"essay in STAR WARS ON TRIAL edited by David Brin and Matthew Woodring StoverBenBella Books--FORTHCOMING June 2006US $17.95/Canada $24.95ISBN 1-932100-89-X

Jeanne Cavelos is the author of (inter alia) the Techno-Mage books, based on the Babylon 5 TV series. These are among my favorite works of recent science fiction: dramatically and morally complex, and very disturbing, but ultimately hopeful. I'll be looking forward to reading Cavelos' essay in the book when it comes out.